The Church of Eleven22 - Wk 12: Thirsty

Episode Date: June 27, 2021

You will find what you are looking for. If you are looking for reasons to not believe, there are many: social, theological, historical, religious, traditional…but if you are looking for true life, you will find it in Jesus alone. Visit coe22.com/john to download the journal, find series resources and more.

Amen and amen. A.W. Tozer, he says this. He said, the most important thing about you is what you think when you think about God. Think about that. I think he's right. He's way smarter than me, so I wouldn't know if he was right or not. But the most important thing about you is what you think when you think about God. So if you think he is just a legalistic judge, then you will spend your whole life in this performance trap.

And if you think he's some kind of ethereal sky fairy that just sprinkles like love dust on everybody, then things like holiness and sanctification won't matter to you at all. I agree with him. That's the most important thing about you because if you think of him as your heavenly father and that you know him

through his son, Jesus Christ, then you will act like one of his children and you will understand what it's like for the father to lavish his love upon you. The most important question that you will answer, we're going to get there in a few months at the end of the Gospel of John. Jesus is betrayed.

Jesus is arrested and he's on trial in Pontius, who's in charge of Jerusalem at that point has these private meetings with Jesus and he's interrogating him and I think he probably thinks that Jesus is innocent but he's too afraid of the crowd to proclaim his innocence so he brings Jesus in front of everybody and says what should I do with this man named Jesus that's the most important question that you will ever answer what will you do with this man named Jesus the crowd deals crucify him and Pontius Pilate says I wash my hands of this you do not have that luxury one day

every single one of us will stand before the sovereign king of the universe and we will give an account, we will give it an answer to that question. What will you do with this man named Jesus? In John chapter 7, if you got your Bible, John chapter 7, we are going to see a wide array of answers to that question. What do people do with Jesus? Chapter 7 verse 1 starts this way and after this. And this is the beat down we took last week. Remember that sermon? Remember Jesus, the crowd's up to like 20,000 people, and he wants to like whittle it down, kind of run off the riffraff.

And so he says, unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no part with me. To which the people are like, well, I don't think I'm going to do that. And so the Bible says that many of the people turned away and stopped following after Jesus because it was a hard teaching. And again, we talked about this last week. He could have stepped in in one second and said, I'm not asking you to like bite me on the forearm. What I'm talking about is one day we're going to do communion,

and communion is going to point to the gospel, and without my life, death, and resurrection, then you don't follow me. But he doesn't explain himself. And then he looks at his disciples and says, you guys want to leave two? And I think he's talking to Peter, because Peter's the first one that answers.

He says, do you want to leave two? And what Peter's thinking is, uh-huh, I kind of do. That fishing business with my dad looks pretty lucrative right now because everything was going good, you're feeding 5,000, you're walking on water, you're doing miracles. Now you're talking like a crazy man. I'm not even allowed to eat pork. I surely can't eat the prophet.

You understand what I'm saying. I don't know what to do with what you're doing now. And so what do you do with your doubts and your unanswered questions and when God doesn't do what you think he ought to do? And so Peter says to him, but Lord, where shall we go? I've looked around at all the other options. And if I walk away from you, I've got to walk towards something else. and you are the only one that offers eternal life. So what do we do with our doubts

and our unanswered questions and our problems? We just pick them up and we follow after Jesus. That's what he's talking about. So after this, the crowd now has been whittled down from like 20,000 to maybe just a few hundred. And Jesus went about in Galilee. He would not go about in Judea because the Jews, that means the Jewish leaders,

were seeking to kill him. It's a pretty good reason not to be there, right? Now they're mad at him because he healed a guy on the Sabbath. He's going to bring that up in a little while. but they want to kill him because he claims to be God, and they think that's blasphemous. Verse two. Now, the Jews' Feast of the Booths was at hand. This is important.

The Feast of the Booths, that word their booth, it means like lean to or tent. And every year, for about seven or eight days, they would celebrate this feast. And what they were celebrating, here's what they would do. They would go camping. They would go like tent camping. And the reason that they would do this, it was to remember when God brought the children of Israel out of Egypt and they crossed over the Jordan and then God provided for them protection and food and water. And so for eight days they would camp to remember the goodness of God.

Anybody like camp? Yeah, me either. And I'm talking about tent camping. All right, I've mentioned this at every service and people are sending me their RVs and their fifth wheels. That's not what I'm talking about. All right? When I was growing up, you know what we called that? Home. That's what I'm talking about, okay? No, no, no. I'm talking about like a tent, like tent camping. Now, I will camp as a means to an end. If I have to camp to shoot an elk or a deer or a mulee, I will do that. But I am not going to just go lay down in the woods. Okay. You know what your favorite part of camping is? Going home. Have you ever appreciated a shower and air condition and cable TV and no mosquitoes like after camping? So what they would do is they would camp out for eight, seven or

days and what they were appreciating was the homes that God had provided for them in the promised land. So that's what's going on here, the Feast of the Boots. Verse three, and so his brothers said to him, now these brothers are not like his brothers and sisters in Christ, these are like his actual brothers, okay? And by the way, any of you grew up Catholic? I know like half of you did. And you were taught in Catholic school or whatever that Mary was a virgin for her whole life. There's only one problem with that, the Bible. I know this is shocking to you, but Later, Mary, she was a virgin when she had Jesus, then she marries Joseph, and they had sex, and she had more children. And so Jesus has brothers and sisters.

In fact, two of his brothers, they're like half-brothers, same mom, different dad, okay? So if you have like a mixed family, congratulations, so did Jesus, all right? And so his brothers, like his biological brothers, here's what they say to him, leave here and go to Judea that your disciples also may see the works that you were doing. for no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world. Now, they're being sarcastic. And here's how we know they're being sarcastic.

Look at this next line. For not even his brothers believed in him. They're like, all right, if you think you are who you say you are, why don't you go to Jerusalem with your magic tricks and you're walking on water and turning your water to wine and stuff and see what they think. Now, a couple things here. Do any of you have some unbelieving family members?

Anybody? I got good news. so did Jesus. So did Jesus. That at this point in Jesus' ministry, his own brothers don't believe that he is who he says he is. Which, by the way, can you imagine growing up with Jesus as your big brother? I mean, can you imagine that kind of pressure? Mary and Joseph come walking in and they'd be like, all right, who made a mess? We know it wasn't Jesus. What would your big brother do? I mean, that's what they grew up with, I think. Now later, later his brothers are going to come to Christ. Two of them, James and Jude, write books of the Bible.

So here's what I would say to you. Don't ever, ever, ever give up on those family members that don't know Jesus yet. As long as they have breath in their lungs, I'm telling you, God is not finished with them. Man, I'm really, really close with my brother, and he made a profession of faith as a little kid at the same camp where I was a pastor a long time ago. But there was a decade or more where he wasn't exactly walking. with the Lord, and I used to wonder, I'd wonder, and I'd pray for him and pray for him and pray for him, and one of the things I'd pray for him is that God would bless him or break him, whatever it takes to draw him unto God, and God broke him. He went through a serious, painful time in his life,

and God used that breaking to draw my brother to himself, and now my brother is a deacon at our church, he attends our St. John's campus, okay? Don't you ever give up on one of your brothers and sisters? and I prayed for my dad's salvation for 30 years. And I used to scratch my head and wonder, God, help me understand. I literally have led thousands of people to Jesus. Why not the one I've been praying for more than anybody else? And then 30 years of prayer for my dad, and he put his faith in Jesus Christ. Don't you ever, ever, ever give up on people that God hasn't given up on?

And then secondly, if you've been around here, you've heard me say this before. But think about this, okay? If you're a little offense on this whole Jesus thing, here is some empirical evidence that you should consider. His brothers believed that he was the son of God. Think about it. Anybody got a brother? If you got a brother, raise your hand real hot.

Think about this for a second. Okay. What would it take for you to be convinced that your brother was the son of God? I got a brother. He's all right. But if he came to me, it's like, behold. I'm the son of God. I'm like, you're the son of something.

It ain't God. We grew up together, bro. And you know what it took for these fellas? James and June? The resurrection of their brother. They did not believe he was who he said he was. He died on the cross, resurrected it on the third day, ascended to the right hand of God, the Father.

They were witnesses to that, and they put their faith in their big brother as their Lord and Savior. So, Jesus says to them. They say, hey, go to Jerusalem, do your tricks there, see what? what happens there, all right? Jesus said to them, my time has not yet come. What we're going to see all throughout the Gospel of John is Jesus talking about his time or his hour. Now, what he is talking about is when he goes to Jerusalem, one day the domino is going to fall, he's going to be arrested, tried, crucified, deadberry, resurrected, and send the Holy Spirit on Pentecost.

And all of that has to be at the right time as God has designed it. So, I hope you know this, that it's not enough to know what God wants you to do. You also need to be at the right time. You also need to be in line with when he wants you to do it. That's what the will of God is. It's not just the what, it's also the when. Because oftentimes Christian can get a word from the Lord, get really excited, and then get the timing all off. Or sometimes we get a word from the Lord and we know what to do,

but we try to do it on our own timing. Anybody got children that suffer from this psychological defect called delayed obedience? Hey man, can you take the trash out? of course I came father that's not how it goes ever it's sort of like er but and then an hour later like hey man we're about to trash I was about to settle down you see the man of God doing the will of God is an unstoppable force until God brings him home and so what what Jesus is going to do is he's never going to let someone else dictate his agenda he's only going to do the

agenda of his heavenly father so he says my time has not yet come but your time is always here and this next thing that he says is true because they are, his brothers are not followers of him. He says, the world can't hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil. Later in the gospel, we're going to see that he looks at followers, his followers, and he's going to say, don't be surprised when the world hates you because it hated me, and because you follow me, it's also going to hate you. To his brothers who do not believe in him, he's going to say, the world doesn't hate you because what he's, he's saying is because you're just like the world. So, Christian, if you don't get a bloody nose every once in a while for bucking up against the current current of this crooked

culture, then it could be just because you're going with the flow. If your life is undistinguishable from this crooked and depraved generation that we live in, because we live in the world is going crazy. The Bible says, woe to those who call evil good and good evil. And every night when I turn on the news, I see people calling good evil and evil good. And if your life, man, if you're just fitting right in with this culture and you don't stand out because of the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ, it could be because you're a citizen of this kingdom and not a citizen of his. I'm just telling you, man, that might sting a little, but you can say Alsh or amen. If I can scroll through all of your Instagram feed and you claim that Jesus is your Lord, but he doesn't so open on your social media, then how much of your Lord is he? if everything we do looks like what everybody else in this world does,

then it could be because we are living by the values and the systems of this world. That's what he is saying. He says, you go up to the feast. I'm not going up to the feast, for my time has not yet fully come. Verse 9, after saying this, he remained in Galilee. The next paragraph he's going to decide to go, and he never returns back to Galilee. Verse 10. but after his brothers had gone up to the feast,

then he also went up, not publicly, but in private. And the Jews, this means like the Jewish leaders, they were looking for him at the feast, and they were saying, where is he? And there was much muttering about him among the people, and while some said he is a good man, and others said, no, he is leading people astray. Over and over and over, we are going to see people,

see Jesus, hear Jesus, and have vastly different range of opinion. One of the things that we will see in the New Testament is that Jesus is hated or loved, but he's never ignored. And so, verse 13, yet for fear of the Jews, no one spoke openly of him. I want you to see this. There's a group of people, and they encounter Jesus, and they have a positive reaction to Jesus. But for fear of man, for fear of what other people would think, no one says a word about him. every single day you get to make a fundamental choice.

Am I going to live under the umbrella of the fear of man? Or am I going to live under a fear and reverence for God? The Bible says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And we've got a whole bunch of people, again, a whole bunch of people that go to church, that read their Bible, that sing Jesus songs, that live under a fear of man and not a fear of God. Because when you make that fundamental decision that I'm going to live in light of a life that reveres God, it changes everything about all of your decisions for the rest of every day. When we live under the fear of man, we keep our beliefs to ourself as to not offend anybody.

When we live under the fear of God, we take the gospel to the very ends of the earth, no matter what the cost is. When we live under the fear of man, we begin to adopt the values of this world, like tolerance and equity. When we live under the fear of God, then we understand that tolerance is not a big biblical value. Love is. we are not called to tolerate one another. We are supposed to love one another. Love is our joy in the Lord towards one another at great expense to ourself.

Tolerate is, you do you, leave me alone, and I'll leave you alone. We are not called to live that way with one another. In my backyard, I have a rat and an armadillo, and they live in tolerance with one another. They don't bother one another. You do you, you got out of the bird feeder, I'll eat down here, okay?

Now, I'm going to kill them both. I don't tolerate either one of them if I can get my hands on. but we are not supposed to coexist like that. We are supposed to love one another and especially people that disagree with us or don't believe what we believe or look different than you or vote different than you

that the kingdom ethic is that we love. That we love. If you live under the fear of man, you're going to avoid anything hard. When you live under the fear of God, you do what's right, regardless of the cost, regardless of the circumstances.

When you live under the fear of man, you think first and most about how does this affect my reputation, and when you live under the fear of God, you think first and most about the glory of God and his reputation. When you live under the fear of man, mamas and dads, you will find yourself most often saying to your children, be careful, be careful, be careful. When you live under the fear of God, you replace words like, be careful with, be strong, be courageous, be bold.

Now, I'm not saying be careless, that's not what I'm saying, okay? I'm not saying be dumb. No, no, no, no. But we don't want to live in a world where all we do is be careful about everything. We want to raise up a generation of not careful, little, obedient children.

We want to raise up a generation of world-changing gospel-centered children that are strong and courageous and bold for the gospel of Jesus Christ. My friend J.D. Greer in a recent sermon on Daniel chapter 1, he said this, you can't make a difference unless you're different. You can't make a difference

unless you're different. And I'm not talking about weird. Okay? There's plenty of you people that are weird. But I'm convinced you would be weird with or without Jesus. And the good news about this is, you don't even know I'm talking to you. That's what's great about weird people. And if you find yourself going, I don't know any weird people. Pray about that. Okay? You see, you can't make a difference unless you're different. And Jesus is saying to his unbelieving brothers here, y'all are different. And this crowd has a positive reaction to Jesus, but they don't want to be different because of you. of the fear of man. You see, when you live under the fear of man, you were most, you were so concerned about being canceled. When you live under the fear of God, what you're most concerned about is that the

blood of Jesus cancels the sin in our lives, and that matters more than everything else. And so this group of people, they got their mouth shut about Jesus. First 14. And about the middle of the feast, so we're about three and a half days in, Jesus went up into the temple and began teaching. and the Jews therefore marveled saying how is it that this man has learning when he's never studied they're like bro you don't have the right credentials what school did you go to what seminary what denomination are you a part of his answer heaven is what he's going to say and so jesus answered them my teaching is not mine but his who sent me if anyone's will is to do god's will he will know whether the teaching is from god or whether i am speaking on my own authority

the one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true and in him there is no falsehood here's what Jesus is saying he's basically saying hey look here religious people

if you knew God you would know me because God is my father and I am his son and you cannot simultaneously reject God the son and say that you know God the father he says it just doesn't work that way

And Jesus also wants them to know. He's saying, I am not here to just share words about God. I am here to share the word of God. Which, by the way, church, this is why here at 1122, this is why I just preach from the Bible. Verse by verse, books of the Bible. Because I'm not just trying to share what I think about God. I want to share with you what God thinks. I don't want to just share with you my own opinions.

And here's three tricks and tips on how to be a better version. of you. I'm not that smart. All we want to do, I don't want you to just learn things about God. I want you to experience Him for yourself. And so I'm not trying to share my opinion about God. I'm trying to share with you God's word. Now, are there times where my opinion is in there? It is for sure. It is for sure. When I tell illustrations and family stories and all of that kinds of things, all right? But even when I do that, I try to be biblically informed. For example, does God hate cats? Just to be clear, I hate cats.

I hate them. And again, like you got confused with camping, I'm not talking about lions and tigers and jaguars. This is not what we're talking about, okay? I'm talking about house cats. So I hate them. I hate them. I can't stand them.

I'm allergic to it. They hate you too. They would eat your neck meat if you died in your apartment, okay? They don't love you. They don't. You just bribe them with catnip and food. All right? They don't love you back, all right?

and they would turn on you any second, all right, so I hate them. Now, if you have cats, I don't hate you. I just hate your cat. So I don't need a picture of it. I don't need an email about it. You don't have to talk to me about your opinion of cats. Okay, so now, does God hate cats? I can tell you in his entire Bible, cover to cover, he did not mention cats one time.

That's how much he despises cats that I want to talk about. Okay, so that's just true. That's just true. My opinion on college football, who should we root for? Is there a verse in here? Is there a verse about a gator? No, there's not. In Philippians, though, you know what the Bible says?

Beware of the dogs. That's what it says. I'm just reading you the Bible. And as I read my Bible, God, of all the colors, he could have written the Bible in, he wrote my Bible in red and black. So, that's what I'm saying. Now, but the reason we go verse by verse through,

like Gospel of John, almost this whole year, is simply this. I'm not trying to share with you just my opinion. And when I do try to share my opinion, I try to move way over here and say, here's something that I think. But I want you to experience God. These people are in the very presence of the Son of God. They can smell the breath of God and they're not filled with the spirit of God. And so he's saying, when they say, hey, where did you go to school?

He goes, heaven. I went to heaven. And I am teaching you what God thinks. And now he's going to talk about the Bible. Has not Moses given you the law? He's like, you know your Bible's right. Yet none of you keep. the law. Why do you seek to kill me? And the crowd answered, you have a demon. Who's seeking to

kill you? What they really mean is, how does he know? Because they have planned to try to kill him. And Jesus answered them, I did one work, and you all marvel at it. And the work that he's talking about, remember a few weeks ago, he's walking into the city, he comes to the sheep gate, he gets to the pool of Bethesda. There's a man who's been invalid for almost 40 years, and he walks up to the man, he's like, do you want to be healed? And remember the guy's like, oh, well, I can't get in the water, and he, and he doesn't even, I would have been so frustrated with excuses. I don't like excuses. And Jesus, full of mercy and grace, says, take up your mat and walk. And the man is healed, and he picks up his mat and he starts walking. And the religious people can't see the miracle in the man's life

because all they can see is the stupid mat. And then what they're really hung up on it is it was done on the Sabbath day. It was done on Saturday. And so that's the miracle he's talking about. And he's like, I can't believe you guys are all hung up on that. Moses gave you circumcision. Not that it was from Moses, but from the fathers. And you circumcise a man on the Sabbath day. He's like, you do work on the Sabbath.

If the kid is born eight days before the Sabbath, you circumcised him on the eighth day just the way the law says. If on the Sabbath a man receives circumcision so that the law of Moses may not be broken, and are you angry with me because on the Sabbath I made a man's whole body well? He said listen circumcision was just a it was just an outward invisible

symbol of a person's right relationship with God, a covenant with God. And so on the Sabbath you do that all the time and on the Sabbath there was a man and I made his whole body well that now he could enter into the temple and be in right relationship with God.

And the religious people were like yeah but you do. did it on Saturday. We don't do healings on Saturday. We do Monday, Wednesday, Friday morning. That's when we do healings. Not Saturday. Saturday, we plot the murder of people that heal people on Saturday. That's what we do. That's how religion can make you crazy, always sitting in judgment, but never being judged. This is why they are so angry with him. He says, do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment. A few weeks ago, Pastor Cam covered this verse in chapter 5. that I want to point out. Chapter 5, verses 39 to 40, Jesus says this, to the religious people.

He says, you search the scriptures because you think in them you have eternal life. And it is they, it is the scriptures that bear witness about me. Yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life. I don't receive glory from people, but I know that you do not have the love of God in you. What he's saying is the point of the scriptures is not to just point to itself. The point of the rules is to point to a relationship with Jesus. And oftentimes you can fall in love with the law and miss out on the lawgiver. You fall in love with the rules and you miss out on a relationship with your Heavenly Father.

You're so hung up on your tradition that you miss the transforming work of God in your life by trusting His son, Jesus Christ. He's saying the point of the scripture is to point out your sin and to point you to the Savior and the Savior is standing right here in your presence. This is what Jesus is saying, to a bunch of religious people. And some of the people of Jerusalem, therefore, said, is not this the man who they seek to kill? And here he is, speaking openly, and they say nothing to him.

Can it be that the authorities really know that this is the Christ? You see, there is a group of people that are not rejecting Jesus based on some preconceived notion or secondhand information that somebody else has shared with them. There is a group of people that as they experience Jesus teaching and who he is face to face, they are coming to the conclusion. We think he is who he says he is. One thing that I would beg you to do that if you're checking out this whole Christianity thing, okay,

is please don't reject Christ based on some caricature of Christianity that you heard from like your freshman English professor at your community college. She don't know what she's talking about, okay? Why don't you just check him out for yourself and you make up your mind on who he is? And please don't. Because oftentimes when I talk to people that don't believe in Jesus, the thing that they are rejecting, I would reject too because they are talking about a version of Jesus that is not the Jesus of the Bible. I dare you.

Just read the Gospel of John for yourself and see who this Jesus is. This is why at 1122, we invite you to pray for your one more and just invite your one more. Hey, why don't you just come and see it and check it out for yourself. So there's a group of people, and they are beginning to believe. But we know where this man comes from. And when the Christ appears, no one will know where he comes from. Says who? I don't even know where that line of thought came from.

That is not in the Bible. Jesus fulfills every Old Testament prophecy about the coming Messiah. There are hundreds of them. He's born of a virgin. He is born in Bethlehem. He's born in the line of David. I mean, over and over and over. he fulfills everything that the Old Testament says that the Messiah will fulfill.

But this group of people has some kind of made-up preconceived notion. And if they would just do a little bit of homework, if they had just checked his birth certificate, they would see he is from Bethlehem, just like the Bible said. And so Jesus proclaimed as he taught in the temple. You know me. Here's what he's saying. Quit getting hung up on all this stuff. You're like, where did you go to school?

Heaven. Where are you from? Heaven. that's going to be his answer over and over and over. But he's saying, quit getting hung up on all those details. You know me and you know where I come from. But I have not come of my own accord. He who sent me is true.

And him, you do not know. I know him, for I come from him and he sent me. His question is this, do you know me? And to a bunch of religious Jewish people, he says, because you cannot say that you know God the Father and then you reject me. And so they were seeking to arrest him. But no one laid a hand on him because his hour had not yet come. Yet many of the people believed in him, and they said, when the Christ appears, he will do more

signs than this man has done. So there's a group of people. This is unbelievable, okay? There's a group of people that see Jesus, that hear Jesus. And their reactions are all over the place. One group of people look at him and see the miracles, see the signs. They're like, surely he must be the son of God. another group of people hear the same sermon and they're like arrest him arrest him

that people have different responses to Jesus and here's here's the truth man I get through experience this weekly here at 1122 because there are weeks up here that I am just slinging fire from the heavens preaching my face off sweating like crazy and just slinging it and there'll be a little group over here just taking notes vigorously like mm so good just mooing mm all right And then our 1825 crowd, they're getting on Twitter, and they do a little sermon clip, I don't know how you do it, you know? And then it's like, so good.

Fire, fire, fire, praise anise, praise, is doing all that. And then there'd be one guy right here just mad, man. It looked like he was winging on a pickle. This ain't funny. Why are you funny? God ain't funny. And then right over here, it'd be somebody just asleep,

all the way asleep. Huh. Same message, different reactions. Jesus walks into the temple. He's teaching. all kind of different reactions. Verse 32, and the Pharisees heard the crowd muttering these things about him.

And the chief priest and the Pharisees sent officers to arrest him, and Jesus said to them, I will be with you a little longer. And then I'm going to him who sent me. You will seek me, and you will not find me where I am. You cannot come. They say, where'd you go to school?

Heaven. Where'd you come from? Heaven. Where are you going? Heaven. That's what he's talking about. When he says where I'm going, you can't come, this is about the most insulting thing he could say to a group of religious Jewish leaders. In John 14, 6, he's going to make this very clear. He says this to his disciples. We'll get there in a few months or whatever.

He says, hey, I'm going to leave, but I'm going to come back. And they say, where are you going? Show us the way. And he says, I am the way, the truth in the life, and no one comes to the Father except through me. He is looking at these religious leaders, and he says, I'm about to go to heaven. and where I go, you're going to try to come.

You want to go there. But without me, you can't come. And they would look at him and be like, who do you think you are to tell us who can and cannot go to heaven? Because what they believe, they believe if they are good at keeping the Old Testament law, then the people that are good at that, that good people get to go to heaven.

In fact, I would say the majority of Americans think that good people go to heaven. To which I would say to you, well how good do you have to be? If that's what you think, if you think good people go to heaven, then how good? I mean, is it like 51% good? Is that good enough? It seems like if good people go to heaven, Jesus would at least give us like a range.

Because if I made a 51 in English, that ain't good. You fail. So is it like C's equal degrees and you've got to be like 75% good to make it into heaven? Like what's his grading scale if that's how we're all getting heaven? And if God does have a grading scale on how good you are, doesn't he owe it to you to at least send you a progress support? I mean, how good are you doing right now? Because, because here's the thing, here's the thing. Some of you don't have enough time left in the semester to make up for the previous semester's work if you're tracking.

You remember those days? I know you do, Jeff. Remember, like, freshman biology? About mid-term, you'd be like, uh-oh, okay. We got one exam left, and if I can just get 172 on that, I can get a C in this class. Ah, what am I going to do? Now, I know you current college students, you would just go to your professor, you'd be like, oh, my gosh, I heard so bad, I need a safe space,

and they would just let you out of it, okay? We had to take the S. We were also expected to pay our bill. That's a different sermon, okay? So, what if you don't have enough time left to tilt the scales back? in your favor. And, let's just be honest, how good are you? Now, I know you think you're good, because you're comparing yourself to your college roommate and the nightly news. And compared to them, you're fine. But do you know what God's standard is? God's standard is His holiness. He says,

be holy, for I am holy. He says, perfect people go to heaven. Now, here's the thing, man. I read this survey. I read this survey, and they asked this question, are you better looking than the average American. Now, statistically speaking, should it 49% of the population be like, yep, and 51 be like, not quite, right? Eighty-four percent of Americans said, yep, I am better looking than the average. 84%? Look around the room. Look around the room and think about that for just one second. Don't stare at any one person for too long. How ugly are you to be like, I'm in that 16%? All right, now here's the thing. So, then after, after people, you, said, yes, I am better looking than the average American.

Then the surveyor said, okay, let me just give you a little psychological information. There is a thing called self-serving bias that when you are self-evaluating, particularly when it comes to looks, IQ, and influence, you tend to grade yourself higher than you actually are. Then there was a follow-up question. And 94% of respondents said, I do believe that self-serving bias exists. It just does not apply to me. That's what people think.

Okay, so I love you. I do, I love you. You're not good. You're not. You're not. You're not. Not as compared to the holy, righteous God. Think about this for a second.

Forget the Ten Commandments. Forget all of God's righteous laws. You can't keep your own laws. You can't keep your own promises. Nobody's lied to you more than you. Mama, how many times have you promised? All right, this week I'm not yelling at the kids. And then Monday morning, your head is spinning and pea soup is going here.

Like, I think I'm possessed. You are. That's called a sin. nature, that's what's in there. Every single one of us, man, every single one of us are crooked and depraved, wretched, wretched sinners. And Jesus says only perfect people go to heaven. He's not, not good people, but perfect people, righteous people. How in the world do we pull that off? Because good people don't go to heaven, forgiving people do, redeem people do. That Jesus Christ was born sinless, that he lived the perfect life, that he lived the life that we should have lived.

and then he went to the cross and he died in our place at the cross. And when he pushed up on his nail-pierce feet after receiving the full wrath of God as punishment and payment for our sin, and he said these words, to tell us die. It means it is finished or paid in full. And whoever would believe that when Christ died on the cross that that counted for me, not only is our sin transferred to him and he paid the debt for our sin, but his perfect life and right standing with the Father is credited to our account so that when God looks at you, he does not see your sin, he does not see your past. Therefore now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, and he sees the imputed righteousness of Christ.

He adopts you into his family, and you were a co-air with him seated at the right hand of God, the Father. That's who goes to heaven. That's who goes to heaven. And so they hear all that, and the Jews say to one another, where does this man intend to go? that we will not find him. Does he intend to go to the dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks? What does he mean by saying, you will seek me and you will not find me

and where I am, you cannot come? It just goes right over their head. And on the last day of the feast, the great day, okay, this matters like crazy. So remember, it's the feast of the booth, the camping festival thing. And what they would do on the last day, what they would do on the great day,

again, remember, they are celebrating the fact that God redeemed his people out of Egypt. and while they were wandering around sleeping in tents in the wilderness, he protected them, he provided food, and he provided water. And the way he provided water is that Moses took a staff, hit a rock,

and out of the rock came water. By the way, that was a picture of the gospel, a picture of what Jesus would do. And so what would happen on the great day while everybody's in their tents in Jerusalem? The high priest would come through the temple, he'd leave the temple, he would, on his way out of the water gate,

he would go by the pool of Siloam, and he would take this big gold, and ladle and he would take a big old scoop of water, and then he would walk around Jerusalem, and the people in Jerusalem, they would follow him around, and it was like a big parade. And they would praise God that in the time of harvest he brought the rain. And they would pray that in the next season of harvest, that God would provide more water like he provided water for his people in the desert. And that's what they were remembering.

And then they would gather around this one spot, and the priest would pour out the water on the ground, and everybody would praise God. for the water. So it's a big water day. Everybody's thinking about water on the great day. And in that context, on the last day, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out. This means he yelled, spoke very loudly. If anyone thirsts. And everybody's like, of course we thirst. That's the point of the whole feast of the booth. Everybody's thinking about water. If anyone thirst, let him come to me and drink. Because whoever believes in me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers

of living water. Now here's what's going on. This is now the third time Jesus has used a very similar illustration. Remember a woman at the well? This is a woman that was living in rebellion against God. She had rejected God. She was ashamed of her life. She had been married five times, and now she was living with a guy that wasn't her husband.

and Jesus meets her at the well and he says he uses this living water illustration he says look you keep coming back to this well day after day after day but it will never satisfy you I have living water that will satisfy you and he wasn't talking about water he was saying you are looking for satisfaction in men that live in this town

and they will never satisfy you I'm the only man because I am the son of man that will be able to satisfy your soul and she says give me some of this living water this is what he's talking about but now he's not talking to a rebellious group of people he's talking to a religious group of people because guess what religious people need the same living water every single one of us reject god we all by our nature we reject god some people reject god by rebellion that sex drugs rock and roll baby

forget you god i do what i want with who i won't when i want you ain't a boss of me you don't get to tell me what to do but equally there are some good religious church people, and they reject God through religion. Because what they're saying is, forget you, God. I don't need your life, death, and resurrection on the cross. I will earn it myself by my own good behavior. By definition, that's self-righteousness. If you'll remember, back in the book of Genesis, Adam and Eve in a imperfect relationship with God, and they reject God in the garden with both rebellion and religion. God gives one, thou shalt not. And they say, say, forget you. You say, don't eat of this fruit. We do what we want because we know better than

you. And they reject God in their rebellion and they eat the fruit. And then you remember the next thing that happens? They're covered with sin and shame and they go running from God as if you can hide from God. And then they begin to make to sow fig leaves as a covering to cover over their sin and nakedness. This is the first religion. God, we don't know you. We don't need you. By our own activity, we will make up for our sin. And then God comes in and he's like, no, no, no, no, no. No, no. And remember, he judges them. He kicks them out of the garden, but he also sheds the blood of an animal and takes the skin of that animal and makes a garment for the covering of their sin. It is a picture of the gospel. And so Jesus in the temple stands up. Anybody thirsty? And if they're

honest, they're all thirsty. They're all thirsty. You see, God has created us with this insatiable appetite, this insatiable soul, and only the living God can fill it. And yet, so many of us go looking for the things of the world to try to fill the things that we thirst for. We talk about it all the time. The world can only offer us three things. Lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh, pride of life. And so so many people, so many of us have a tendency to think, you know what, money, stuff, new house, new car, oh, if I just get that, then I'll be satisfied. And I'm just here to tell you, stuff will never satisfy you. Stuff will never satisfy you. I promise you, man.

Anybody got a boat? Anybody want to sell a boat? Same people. I'm not anti-boat. Jesus did lots of ministries on boats. Take me on your boat. Better than having a boat? Having a church full of people who got boats.

Okay, so I'm telling you, I know you can buy a boat and a truck to pull it and all that kind of stuff. It just will not satisfy. And some people look to stuff and money for security. Get one call from the doctor. What's your money doing for you? Let your wife tell you that she's leaving because you've been chasing after money

instead of her, what's your money going to do for you? Let your kid lose their mind and go crazy. What's your money going to do for you? Now again, I'm not anti-money. It just makes a terrible God. And Jesus is saying, Jesus is saying, hey, listen, are you thirsty? Money's never going to satisfy you. And the crazy thing is, is when you find your security and satisfaction in Jesus, then money can serve God and serve you really, really well. And so some people, they don't go for the lust of the eyes, the stuff, and the money. Some people go for the lust of the flesh. And the lust of the flesh is, like, I deserve to feel a certain way. And what's crazy about this one is it could be heroin or it can be Hagen-Doss. And you're like, how are those the same? Because what you're trying to do is take

some foreign substance, put it in here to numb your soul. And Jesus didn't come to numb your soul. He came to fill you up. Now, I am clearly anti-heroine. I am not anti-Hogendos. All right? How good is our God? You know, this is God's common grace that he would give us chocolate, cookie dough, peanut, butter, chocolate chip, ice cream, and even people that hate him get to enjoy it. That's God's common grace. However, if you think that scooping that in your face is going to do something for your soul, you're too dumb to talk to. I mean, think about the difference between your hopes and dreams at the beginning and your regret

and shame at the end. It is a picture of the human life. And then here's what we get dumb. When it doesn't satisfy you're like, maybe we've got the wrong flavor. cul-de-sacosac of stupidity. That's what that is. And then the other is the pride of life. If I can just get the disposition,

if I can just get people that love me, if I can just get the blue check, enough likes, whatever it is. If I could just improve me. And here's what's crazy. You know what religion is? Religion is just self-improvement with a choir robe and a list of religious rules. Not trying to live rightly before God,

but trying to impress everybody else on your pew. And Jesus says, anybody thirsty? Anybody been looking to the world? or looking to your own righteous activity to try to fill you up. And ultimately what he is saying in the temple is this. How's that working for you? And there's a bunch of them that are going, it ain't working.

And now John gives commentary on what he is talking about. John says, now this he said about the spirit, capital S spirit, talking about the Holy Spirit. Now this he said about the Holy Spirit whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not yet been given because Jesus was not yet glorified. So Jesus is going to live a perfect life, be crucified, dead buried, resurrected.

He's going to ascend to the right hand of God the Father. And before he ascends, he looks at his disciples and he's going to say this, and you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses. In Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the very ends of the earth. And the disciples hear that and they see Jesus float up to the right hand of God, the Father, and they're afraid still, they don't know what to do, they go huddle together. By the way, there's another festival going on in Jerusalem at this time.

It's called Pentecost. A bunch of people are there to celebrate from all over the place. And then, out of nowhere, the Spirit of God that Jesus promised, the Spirit of God falls down on the believers. They are immersed or baptized in the Holy Spirit. This is what the Bible means when it says that you are the temple of God. It has nothing to do with what you look like in a bathing suit. Can I get a witness?

Praise God. All right. You probably should have said, amen. louder than I just heard, all right? It means that the Spirit of God takes permanent residence in the believer in Jesus Christ. That's what it means. So when Jesus says, I will be with you, he doesn't mean like around

you. He doesn't mean hovering over your van, praying for traveling mercies as you drive to Disney. No, no, no, that he lives on the inside of every believer. And the Spirit of God falls on every single believer, and they are speaking in their own language, with their own accents, and all these people that have gathered for this festival called Pentecost are from different tribes and different tongues.

and different languages, and they hear the disciples speaking in their own native language. And they're like, how can this be? And so the Apostle Peter, he sees a crowd. He's like, I should probably say words. And he steps up, and what I love about this, is the thing that always got Peter in trouble, his mouth, is the very thing that God used on the day of Pentecost

to preach the very first church sermon in the history of church. And Peter steps up. And he says, I know some of you think that these men are drunk, but they're not drunk, it's only 9 o'clock in the morning. That's his excuse, all right? We don't drink that early. And then he says, but let me tell you what happened. That God sent the author of life, his name is Jesus,

and you crucified him by your sin. And he was resurrected on the third day, and he has given us the deposit or the gift of the Holy Spirit. And then the Bible says that people were cut to the heart with this sermon, and they say, what must we do to be saved? And he says, repent and be baptized. Repent, turn away from this world, turn away from you. you turn to Jesus and then tell the world by getting baptized. And that day, 3,000 people put their

faith in Jesus and were filled with the Holy Spirit. This is what Jesus is talking about. I'll give you living water. I put the Spirit of God on the inside of you. And then here's what's crazy. The Apostle Paul writes to the church at Galatia. And when he gets to chapter 5, he goes, put to death the desires of the flesh. You have a sin nature that's warring against you. But God put a deposit in you. He put the spirit of God in you. And then he says, and so you want to feed that spirit. You want to, you want to cultivate the kind of environment where you abide in Jesus, you stay close to his word, and then what will begin to happen is you don't manufacture right activity, but you cultivate the fruit of the spirit, not fruits, plural, but fruit of the spirit, that it grows from the

inside out. And then he says, the fruit of the spirit. So if you know Jesus, the spirit lives in you, and here's what can come out of you. The fruit of the spirit is love and joy and peace and patience and kindness and goodness and faithfulness and gentleness and self-control. See, you are looking in this world and what you really want in need all comes from the spirit in you, like a well of living water that wells up inside of you. You see, you're looking for love and you thought some dude could love you, you thought some man could complete you?

Have you met a man? No. And you keep chasing after happy, but what the Lord has, which is so much better is happy, the Lord has joy, which is based in Jesus. So your happy doesn't go away every time the happenings don't go your way.

And you're looking to always try to be in control of your circumstances, but the fruit of the spirit is peace and patience. And that you can learn the secret of being content in every single. situation. Jesus is saying, anybody thirsty? This is what I offer to you. For anyone who would believe, two of my new favorite words in the Bible, whoever believes. Whoever believes. You know what this means? That if you fall into whoever category, then you can put your faith in Jesus. No matter what you've

done, no matter how bad you have been, even if you're still hung over a little bit from last night. And you're like, how does he know? We know. Okay? I'm not saying that's awesome. I'm saying that's why Jesus died on the cross. Put your faith in him. Believe in him. And believe doesn't just mean believe that. It means to trust in, to believe in.

To say, I believe, I trust that somehow, when Christ died on the cross, that counted for me. And whoever does that, whoever believes in Jesus, as the scripture has said, Jesus is going to satisfy your soul. He's going to forgive your sin, and he is going to satisfy your soul. So he lays out the gospel.

He lays out the gospel. And then, you've got to listen fast. to this last part. I want you to see all of the responses. There's at least six responses as Jesus lays out this invitation to come to him. It says when they heard these words,

some of the people thought, this really is a prophet. And others said, this is the Christ. Some said, is the Christ that come from Galilee, has not the scripture said that the Christ comes from the offspring of David and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David was?

And so there was a division among the people over him. And some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him. And the officers then came to the chief priest and the Pharisees who said to them, why did you not bring him in? And the officers answered, no one ever spoke like this man. And the Pharisees answered them, have you also been deceived? Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? But this crowd that does not know the law is a curse. And then Nicodemus, remember him, chapter three, Nicotnight. And then Nicodemus, who had gone to him before and who was one of them,

one of the Pharisees said to them, does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does? And they replied, are you from Galilee too? Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee. There are six responses here. One. Some people say, hey, he's a prophet.

I mean, teaches good stuff. And I'm going to receive him as a good moral teacher. I mean, I want to raise good kids and get him in a good college and live a good little conservative moral family life here in America. And so I believe that he is a good teacher. And then some people think he's a fraud.

Where's he from? See, he does not fit my theological box, and I have these preconceived notions about what the Messiah needs to be, and he doesn't fit those things, so I don't think he's telling the truth. Some people are anti-Jesus. They want to arrest him. And they say, how dare he say these things? Who does he think he is? Who does he think he is to tell me about how I conduct my bedroom, about who I am to love,

about how I am to conduct my bank account. How dare he? Who does he think he is? And some people respect him. I mean, the cops get home, and the Pharisees like, why didn't you arrest him? He's like, no, he's a good dude, man. We've never heard stories like that.

We ain't touching him, all right? They respect him. And then some people are just curious. Nicodemus are like, hey, maybe we should just keep checking this thing out. A wide array of responses. Here's what all five of those responses have. in common. There's one group that thinks he's the Christ. Some people think, teacher, fraud, respect, all those things. You know what those five have in common?

I know this is a little harsh, but I love you enough to tell you. Those are five responses to Jesus will damn you to hell. That's it, man. That's what he's talking about. When he, later in John 14, 6, when he says, I am the way, the truth in the life, and no one comes to of the Father except through me. There is one response that is the right response to Jesus. And those who say, he's the Christ. He is the Christ. He is the Lamb who has come to take away the sin of the world.

This group of people realizes I'm not just a bad person that needs to be better. I'm not a dumb person that needs to be smarter. I'm a sinner that needs a Savior. And that's him. And that is him. And whoever would surrender their life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ,

you will be saved and be in a right relationship with God the Father. Here's the point. Here's the way I see all of John 7. You will find what you're looking for. And if you're looking for reasons to not believe, there are many. Social, theological, historical, religious, traditional. But ultimately the reason people don't believe in Jesus is because you want to be the Lord of your own life. But if you are looking for true life, you will find it in Jesus Christ alone.

So church, no matter what campus you're at or you're watching online, are you thirsty? Are you thirsty? Have you ever put your faith in Jesus Christ? Have you ever responded to him by admitting it? I'm a sinner in need of a Savior. Have you ever gotten to the place where you believe? Now look, you don't have all the questions answered

just like he didn't answer all their questions. But if you ever got to the place where you believe that when Jesus died on the cross, somehow that counted for me. Well, if that's you, it's time for you to confit. confess him as your Lord. And he will deposit the Spirit of God in you. And he will give you rivers of living water in you

that will satisfy you and give you the security that you're looking for. And ultimately what you get is you get him. Do you know him? Do you know him? I want to give you the opportunity right now to surrender your life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. To put your faith in him

and to believe on him as your Savior. Would you bow your head? Would you close your eyes? And if you would say that to me, for the very first time, I am ready to put my faith in Jesus. I admit that I'm a sinner. I believe in Christ died on the cross. That counted for me. And right now I am ready to confess him as Lord. If that's you, would you lift your hand high?

I mean, really high. Would you say, Father, here I am. I surrender my life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Praise God for the hands that are in the air. It is not your hand up that saves you. It is Christ's death and resurrection that saves you. All you're doing when you're lifting your hand and saying, Father, here I am, I give up. I surrender.

Our good and gracious is heavenly. Father, God, we love you so much because you first loved us. God, I thank you that you have demonstrated your love for us once and for all, and that while we were yet still sinners, Christ died for us. God, I pray that we would be a generation of people that were different than this world. Not to point to us, but to point people to you, and I thank you that you put the deposit of the Holy Spirit. And Lord, I pray that as we continuously draw near to you, then you will be that you will be make us more and more and more and more like you. And God, I thank you that this day there is salvation

in your house through the name of Jesus. And we pray this in the only name that matters when we pray. We pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen. Church, would you please stand as we respond. And please don't take this part for granted. We respond to the gospel. We respond to Christ's invitation. And part of the way we do that is we pray. Some of you got families. family members that don't know him yet, won't you come pray for him? You see, when Jesus died on the cross, it gave us an all-access pass to the throne room of God, but instead of coming in as a visitor with a request, now we get to walk into the throne room and talk to the king, he just happens to be our dad. And you should pray like everything depends on it because it does. So we invite

you to pray. And we invite you to bring. Part of what we do is an act of worship every single week as we look at the stuff of this world and we say, you don't own me. He is my king. And we bring back to him our first and our best because he first loved us by giving us his best. And we sing, and we sing, and we sing. And when we sing, what we're doing

is we're just removing the distractions of this world to fix our eyes on the one that is worthy of our worship. So as we respond, let's pray, and let's bring, and let's sing. Let's respond. Thank you.